Proud Of Ya, Hon

KS was live on Bernama TV last night for an interview for an hour with regards to his work. Although he shrugs it off as being on "just another media", it's just different seeing him on the screen and even having his full name appear on the info screen when you click to find out what you're watching.

Crèches

A few friends of mine have had newborn babies and are juggling with trying to get to work and looking after the baby. Just thinking of my Hamilton, NZ days and remembered how the offices there had crèches in their offices, where the Mums were able to check on their kids now and then.

I think that’s a fantastic option because I always wonder how mums are able to concentrate on their work when they have their baby elsewhere, with someone else, most often a stranger (maid or in a nearby nursery) for the entire day. Plus the fact that it makes it difficult for breastfeeding with the baby being so far away and that you need to pump every 3 hours or so.

Unfortunately here in Malaysia where the maternity leave is only 2 months (unlike 6 months in UK!) and there are no such thing as crèches in the office. So, we Malaysians have to depend on maids and nurseries, which have horror stories linked to them - feeding sleeping pills in their milk so that they'd be quiet the whole day, maids running off, feeding weird things to your baby. Or if we are fortunate to have mothers/mothers-in-law to help look after, it still is not the same as you being there for your baby should something go wrong, as I can only imagine.

So the only solution is for the mother to stay back home and not work. But then again, with rising inflation, it becomes unfeasible for the family to cut down from dual income to single.

No, I’m not pregnant. I just wish we had more options.

Weird

KS dreamt that I was locked up in prison for a year and that he was really upset. While I dreamt of Kenny Sia (again!), that I poked his eyeball for being so irritating and then proudly blogged about it.

And this morning, I read Karen Cheng and she blogged about Kenny Sia.

And I haven’t even met this Kenny Sia.

Bangkok – Highlights

Bangkok is a great place for shopping. We covered Suam Lum night market, MBK Shopping Mall, Platinum Mall and Chatuchak. However, I found that only at MBK shops have proper changing rooms. Half of my purchases from Chatuchak were disappointing, as they looked weird upon trying them back at the hotel. Plus most clothes are made from poor quality material. Our Chatuchak purchases.

As for tourist spots, we only visited the Floating Market and along the way back were brought to the elephant rides, Wood Carving Center and gemstones factory. The gemstone factory staff were really really hard selling their wares. Unfortunately, the wood carving and gemstones were part and parcel of every tour. It wasted some time when we could have been doing other things.

Breakfast at the Floating Market. Delish.

Typical scenes at the Floating Market. Tried this kuih and found it to be quite pleasant although we don't know what it is made of.

Constant Vigilance! We were cheated everywhere, even in 7-Eleven! Or when we bargained, I felt like we didn’t bargain hard enough.

Anyway, one of the best parts of the trip was the Thai foot massage. We did that on the last night and regretted not discovering it earlier as I would have liked to try the neck and shoulder massage.

All in all, it was fun but I wouldn’t purposely make a trip back to Bangkok. I liked the fact that we walked so much! Inevitable exercise after guzzling my daily dose of green curry chicken! Yum!

Bangkok – Getting There

I’m back! And will give highlights from our short but exhausting trip.

Firstly, getting there was an adventure on it’s own. We planned to take a bus to the airport so we scheduled an additional hour to the two hours required for flying overseas. However, KS forgot and got the cab to take us all the way, so we had to wait for over 3 hours at the airport.

During the taxi ride, KS kept asking strange and nonsensical questions to the driver. Apparently, he was nodding off to sleep! So it was a good thing we arrived in one piece!

Then later, as we got on the plane, there were additional 2 passengers on the flight. Two of them were from other flights but because of the lack of signage or guides, they walked into the wrong aircraft!

After identifying the misguided, we taxied onto the runway only to taxi the aircraft back due to engine problems. So our flight was further delayed.

Finally upon reaching, we decided to go to the night market, Suan Lum, where many friends mentioned of the cheap and good food. We ended up paying RM46 for char siew, char kuey tiow and tom yam soup that tasted like taugeh soup with prawns that weren’t fresh.

End of day 1. Good thing was that we enjoyed our hours at the airport at a complimentary visit to the airport lounge there.

On Our Way

We're now in LCCT awaiting our flight. And thanks to the generousity of a potential supplier, we are enjoying this free internet service from the Plaza Premium Lounge. It's small but compared to what's (not) available outside, this is like an oasis, with plenty of cushioned chairs and most importantly, for me, empty internet kiosks!

Anyway, am excited about our trip and will come back to tell you more.

Special Jelly

Jan brought home this packet of powdered jelly from Indonesia. I didn’t catch it at first but later it hit me.

Can you see what is so special about this jelly? Look at the brand name. I laughed even harder when I read the instructions at the back.

Jan said it came in a box labeled "Pondan" all over it and couldn't resist bringing one back.

So today I brought it for “Show & Tell” in the office. It certainly brightened the mid week!

Ex-Cousin

Dad told us last night that Mum met a friend who knows my Mum’s ex-cousin.

Blur faces all around as we try to figure how does one become an ex-cousin.

Seeing our blank stares, he laughed and went on to explain that one of Mum’s uncle adopted a boy who changed his name to Kang. But when the uncle passed away, he changed his name back to Teoh.

So jadi, that’s how you get an ex-cousin. So that makes him my ex-uncle? Cool.

Freaky

So this is one of the new cool stuff I bought from Gizmo. It's a boynq vase speaker and today I decided to instal it at my parents place to declutter the desk. Switching on my LAUNCHcast, I began commenting how soft the sound was and KS replied "What do you expect from a small speaker?"

AND THEN. LAUNCHcast played Cliff Richard's Wired for Sound which starts of with:

I like small speakers, I like tall speakers

Oh-kay... I hear you loud and clear, Cliff.

Gizmo - Closing Down

Adrian's shop in 1 Utama, Gizmo is closing down by end of this month. It so happened we popped by otherwise we wouldn't have known. All stuff on remarkable markdown and got myself some cool stuff. Sad that I won't be able to find cool and wacky stuff all in one place.

All The Best, Heman

A very good friend has finally had it with Malaysia and has migrated to Australia to look for greener pastures.

He has always obliged every silly request at his own expense from helping me change tires in his best white shirt, drive all the way to Klang just to fix an internal DVD burner for our computer, housed us when we had nowhere to go, tailed me from one end of Klang Valley to make sure I arrived home safely just to return back to his home at the other end of town just to name a few. At one point, he would be the first person I'd contact when I faced any trouble.

He is generous with his time, effort and is a true friend in need. What bugs me is that I have never been able to repay him for any of this. The reason is because he never reveals what he needs.

While attempting to maintain his machoness, we'd throw him soft toys and babies and take photos to incriminate him. And has entertained us with many funny acts like hitting a huge Maori guy right in the eyes with his cap while trying to do the hongi (nose touch Maori greeting).

I will miss him. :(

CRAAAAPPP!!!!!

I didn't realize the backpackers I booked did not revert with a confirmation. After a quick call, I find that they are fully booked. And now I'm panicking! Where to find rooms with great location on a budget?? DAMN!

**********

Okay, I just booked goodness knows what hotel. As long as it's near the train station. Plus this one is near MBK. Fingers crossed that it's ok.

For The Love of Durians

This weekend we're not supposed to be going back to Melaka. BUT mum-in-law just called and said she had a heap of durians waiting for me. Oh man! Would I be able to convince KS to drive all the way back on a Saturday night to collect durians?

Eeek, just realised next weeked I'm flying off to Bangkok. Would I want to jeopardize falling ill from eating too much durian? Durian or Bangkok... sheesh.

Attempting Healthy Living

So I’ve started my oat eating for my breakfast. Uncle Toby’s is bearable since it has choc chips in it but my Vico oats and soy drink can get quite disgusting if I don’t drink it down while it’s still hot or when I get to the end of the drink where all the oats coagulate.

Alas, I have 16 packs of the oats and my hubby and colleagues aren’t deceived by me trying to offload some to them.

I supplement my hunger pangs with almonds (honey and sugar coated!) and have inspired my colleague to replace his weekly cookie snack with raisins. Another two have untouched packets of oats with spirulina and are now bringing them out.

Okay, I admit, I cheat by drinking instant soup to alternate my oat intake. The Ajinomoto fix is what I look forward to as I chew through the mornings.

As for the free range chickens, we’ve eaten one and in all honesty, I cannot tell the difference between that and a kampung chicken nor does the meat taste any more er, chickeny. Nor am I absolutely convinced I will switch 100% to eating free range chickens at more than double the cost of normal/express chicken sold in the market. But if Mum sees a benefit to it, I guess I wouldn’t mind placing an order every fortnight for her.

Isn't She Lovely?

Sigh. What a cute cat.

Road Trip

Today, we went on a little road trip with the Youth Pastor to check out a camp site located near Raub. It was a long and windy road but eventually we left civilization and found our way after over two hours.

We passed Bentong and Raub, two small towns in Pahang and found them bustling with people out for the Sunday market. Quite interesting.

On our way back, we met up with Pastor's old friends and their story is a 180 degree shift from city life. This two couples were working in the Klang Valley for many years and one day 3-4 years ago, they left and found a plot of land within the forests near Raub and set up their homes, beside each other. And started farming. One had experience in IT, the other who used to work in KFC/Ayamas. Absolutely no experience in farming.

They are now farming free range chickens and eggs, durian trees, rubber trees, fish, breeding dogs... I doubt if the list stops there. Chatting with them, I learned that:
1. I confirmed again that one should never wash an egg even if it has chicken shit on it. This removes the protective layer around the egg, causing it to rot easily even though it's placed in the fridge.
2. Commercial chicken is harvested when they're 45 days old. They normally grow to the correct size in 3 months. Commercial methods switch on lights at night to fool the chickens it's still daylight and they will continue to eat, thus growing bigger faster.
3. Commercial chicken farming recycles the parts that are usually thrown away - feathers, innards etc and put in into the chicken feed. Now, this brings to mind Mad Cow disease, and sure enough, the chickens get diseases. And to stop these diseases, the chickens are fed with antibiotics, which then leaves residue in their innards, feathers... A vicious cycle and after some time, the chickens we're eating is so full of generational medication. And it stops in our body when we consume it. I'm almost certain all this causes our modern day illness.


Free range chickens hiding in the shade.

Anyway, they sell their harvested chickens to friends and regular customers, even up to delivering them to your doorstep in KL! I bought 3 birds and hopefully will get to taste the difference. Check out their website www.ourlittlefarm.bz

Tiring but fun day. I also learned about the process of slaughtering chicken, tapping rubber, breeding and selling dogs. Came back still amazed to meet people who are brave enough to take risks and start something that they believe in, even when they don't have the experience.

Peer Pressure

This is so funny. Dad has just joined Facebook out of peer pressure! Now he''s asking how to upload his profile pix. Hehehehe...

No Bag

Last Friday I walked in KLCC because the sales have started. Coach handbags were going for below RM1000 and I was introduced to Cole Haans and uh, another brand which I can't remember. So there I was, trying out handbags that were supposedly oh-so-cheap but in the end, I just didn't see a need to spend so much for a handbag. This is despite my recent desire for owning a branded bag.

Just glad to say I'm still me inside and I left empty handed after 2 solid hours. Happily.

But the other thing that is a bit out of character is that I started buying Uncle Toby's and oats for breakfast. Me! The girl who eats a bar of Snickers and muruku for breakfast! This is due to the rising prices of all food around my office that I reckon I'd rather spend about the same amount eating something healthier.

I haven't eaten the oats but hope they're palatable. Let's see how long this "healthy" streak lasts.

Local Drama

Mum loves watching her Korean drama series every day. For us Malaysians, we only need to read the news to get our daily dose of drama.

From sodomy allegations on Anwar again, proof of fabricated evidence from the sodomy case more than 10 years ago to now allegations that the Deputy PM is involved in a murder case, it makes tuning into the news more interesting. Maybe all this will divert the rakyat's attention away from the rising cost of living.

What made me laugh aloud was when the PM took offense at US for warning Malaysia to conduct a fair investigation on the new Anwar sodomy allegation. He chastised that Malaysia knows how to run our own country, thank you very much, and that we ARE fair! With all the dirt that is being dished out right now on the judiciary appointments, fabricated evidence to suit certain parties, I don't think many people really believe that statement, Pak Lah.

Sigh. What's going on in Malaysia?